Montgomery County Judge Guy Tomlinson has reshuffled the absentee ballot count in the 46th Senate District yet again.

The judge issued an order today deciding that Montgomery County start its count Friday, but have Ulster County move to next Monday and continue counting through Tuesday.

The Ulster County Board of Elections had apparently requested their paper ballot count start Monday because they initially had planned to count that Tuesday based on Tomlinson’s first order. That led the BOE officials in Ulster to close the office on Friday, the day after Thanksgiving.

Ulster County will be the most closely watched absentee ballot count. Democratic candidate Cecilia Tkaczyk needs to do well in the area, which she carried by a 2-to-1 margin on Election Day, if she hopes to overcome the growing lead by Republican candidate George Amedore.

Today’s counting in Greene and Schenectady counties put Amedore up by about 340 votes. Update: That lead has grown to more than 400 votes.

Democrats believe that Tkaczyk would be in good shape if she heads into the Ulster County absentee ballot tally with a deficit of fewer than 1,000 votes.

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